Spiritual Growth in the Life of Lay People: The Contributions of SFS

By Fr. Jose Cheriyanthara MSFS

The first chapter, An Effective Preparation to a Committed Christian Life for Spiritual Growth is a preliminary catechesis on the spiritual life assisting the laity to know the need to seek spiritual growth in their lay vocation. It introduces lay people to the spiritual life by explaining Christian spirituality from different spiritual teachings. It highlights the primacy of charity which is to be lived with the virtue of devotion in this way. It initiates the laity into the basic requirements to undertake this Salesian way found in the writings of St. Francis. It emphasis a conversion of heart, total and integral, which is a new-life in the spiritual growth initiated at baptism. It studies conversion or liberation from sin and affections for sin by various acts of purification, along with a personal evaluation and examination of the whole life before the reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and making the covenantal promise to God to be faithful in this way of life.

The second chapter. Spiritual Growth: Encountering God in the Exercises of Prayer and Devotion, is divided into two parts. The emphasis is on the Salesian teaching of prayer for lay people. The first part discusses various daily exercises of prayer for lay people, along with the explanations of some preliminary effective personal dispositions which are necessary to live the prayer life daily in the lay vocation. The second part makes an attempt to draw out the essential devotions which help spiritual growth in the Salesian way.

The third chapter. The Sacramental Life: Means of Spiritual Growth, discusses the need, participation in and reception of the sacraments which are pertaining to the daily spiritual growth of lay people. This study gives importance to the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation along with a brief reflection on the sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony in describing their influence on spiritual growth in the lay vocation.

The final chapter. The Practice of Charity in the Lay Vocation, focuses on the ways and means of practising charity in the lay vocation. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the Christian call to praxis and vital requirements to be effective in translating the God-experience (faith) into actions of charity (praxis). In the second part, we discuss various contexts of charity and the appropriate ways of practising this virtue in the daily circumstances of the lay vocation.